WPEO (1020 kHz) is a daytime-only

AM radio AM broadcasting is radio broadcasting using amplitude modulation (AM) transmissions. It was the first method developed for making audio radio transmissions, and is still used worldwide, primarily for medium wave (also known as "AM band") transmi ...

station licensed to

Peoria, Illinois Peoria ( ) is a city in Peoria County, Illinois, United States, and its county seat. Located on the Illinois River, the city had a population of 113,150 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of municipalities in Ill ...

. It is owned by WPEO Radio Foundation, Inc., and it simulcasts a Christian talk and teaching

radio format A radio format or programming format (not to be confused with broadcast programming) describes the overall content broadcast on a radio station. The radio format emerged mainly in the United States in the 1950s, at a time when Radio broadcasting, ...

with co-owned WPEO-FM 98.3 FM in

Farmer City, Illinois Farmer City is a city in DeWitt County, Illinois, United States. The population was 1,828 at the 2020 census. Farmer City is part of Blue Ridge Community Unit School District 18 sharing facilities with nearby Mansfield and Bellflower, Illi ...

. The

radio studio A recording studio is a specialized facility for recording and mixing of instrumental or vocal musical performances, spoken words, and other sounds. They range in size from a small in-home project studio large enough to record a single sin ...

s and offices are just south of Illinois Central College in East Peoria, Illinois. By day, WPEO is powered at 1,000

watt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of Power (physics), power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantification (science), quantify the rate of Work ...

s non-directional. But because 1020 AM is a clear channel frequency reserved for Class A KDKA

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

, WPEO must sign off at sunset to avoid interference. The

and

transmitter In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter (often abbreviated as XMTR or TX in technical documents) is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna (radio), antenna with the purpose of sig ...

are on Highview Road, just south of Illinois Central College in East Peoria, Illinois.Radio-Locator.com/WPEO-AM
/ref> Programming is heard around the clock on two

FM translator A broadcast relay station, also known as a satellite station, relay transmitter, broadcast translator (U.S.), re-broadcaster (Canada), repeater ( two-way radio) or complementary station (Mexico), is a broadcast transmitter which repeats (or tr ...

s: 97.7 W249CZ and 103.9 W280FA in Peoria, as well as 98.3 WPEO-FM in Farmer City.

History

The station was first on the air from 1946 to 1949 as WMMJ, the second radio station in Peoria after 1470 WMBD. WMMJ played

big band A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s and ...

music and broadcast sports, but it had financial difficulties and went off the air. WPEO signed on in August 1950, with its studios in the Jefferson Hotel downtown, and started its

top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is a list of the 40 currently most popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "To ...

format in 1954, competing with 1290 WIRL. During this time, noted

disc jockey A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include Radio personality, radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at nightclubs or music fes ...

Harry Harrison was at WPEO as the "Morning Mayor of Peoria" and station manager. In 1959, he left for New York's WMCA, and WPEO switched to

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

in 1960. In 1970, WPEO was bought by the Pinebrook Foundation, Inc., a Pennsylvania-based non-profit corporation, and switched to a

Christian radio Christian radio refers to Christian media radio formats that focus on Christian religious broadcasting or various forms of Christian music. Many such formats and programs include contemporary Christian music, gospel music, sermons, radio dramas, ...

format. , its programming is based on paid time for various national Christian programming sources. It is still restricted to daylight hours to protect

clear-channel station A clear-channel station is a North American AM radio station that has the highest level of protection from interference from other stations, particularly from nighttime skywave signals. This classification exists to ensure the viability of cross ...

KDKA in Pittsburgh.

References

External links

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FCC History Cards for WPEO
Radio stations established in 1946 PEO East Peoria, Illinois PEO 1946 establishments in Illinois PEO {{Illinois-radio-station-stub